Hey there!
Is everything fine?
Today, as I keep writing about my learning journey in past February, I want to share with you one of the gifts we received in Bhutan. This experience meant more than just visiting temples and sightseeing. It had a very special taste because, during our entire stay there, we had the privilege to be accompanied by a real Lama, who kindly shared with us all his experiences and knowledge about the buddhist philosophy. It definitely made all the difference.
Daily, our bustling days began with a morning meditation that was always guided by Lama Gembo Dorji, who is currently an advisor to the monastic body of Bhutan. Because not everyone was used to meditating, the first lesson given to us was how to properly practice meditation according to buddhist teachings. How to breathe, keep still, settle thoughts down, and which body postures should be adopted while meditating were some of the precious teachings received. It is something so simple to achieve that we, not accustomed to taking our time and peacefully following the flow, might feel hard to keep this state of presence and stillness. But, as time goes by, one might increasingly get into it.
The second learning came to me when we were going down the mountain after having visited The Tiger's Nest Monastery. While descending the cliff, I started having a conversation with Lama Gembo. I told him about how focused on looking for my real purpose in life I have been in the past years. I said to him that I have been thinking of it most of the time and many of my activities aim at this main goal. I shared with him that, since I started this searching journey, I have been able to clearly see a lot of progress, but many thoughts and ideas still arise in my mind all the time. Wisely and metaphorically speaking, he told me that our mind works just like a sky full of clouds. It does not mean that the sun is not there. It is just a matter of keeping the clouds away and we will manage to see it with all its beauty, brightness and splendor. And, to manage to do so, the only way is to softly try to settle our thoughts down. To breathe, to keep still, to relax, and to be certain that everything is all right and in the right path. Just being aware of that will give us comfort and peace to keep going and living a better life.
And, to finish telling you this lovely experience, I have one more touching moment with Lama Gembo that I would like to share with you. It happened in our last day together in Bhutan. We were leaving the Fertility Temple in Punakha District and during a humble conversation I said to him that our days in Bhutan had been so beautiful and that in the end I was feeling sad for departing. He quietly looked at me and said that "Departing is just the beginning of the next meeting". I was not expecting such an answer. I can not even put in words everything I felt then and the reflexive state of mind I found myself in after listening to him. Not only because I was leaving Bhutan and his presence, but, more than that, because of the positive impact that his message can cause on our lives once we become aware of it.
Many times we are pretty sure that we no longer want a relationship, a job, a lifestyle or simply an old behaviour. But everytime the universe tries to gift us with the new, providing us with an effective opportunity of change, we get stuck in the very same pattern. Why? Just because we are afraid of leaving our comfort zone, encountering the new, and living the life blessings. Let us be coherent with our wrestlings. Let us watch out whether the change we desire is in fact real. Let us observe whether what is preventing us from getting it is only the fear of embracing the change or, on the contrary, we are only making a fuss about it and spending our energy unwisely. Think about it!
What is it that prevents you from finding wholeness in life?
Remember that departing is just the beginning of the next meeting 😉
Lama Gembo Dorji and me during one of our morning meditations in Punakha District, February 2017.
